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Pronunciation of sur

by Bemused, January 1, 2012

Messages: 9

Language: English

Bemused (User's profile) January 1, 2012, 5:31:03 AM

Hi
Does anyone have any tips on how to say "sur" without it sounding like "sewer"?
Cheers

cFlat7 (User's profile) January 1, 2012, 7:54:31 AM

I'd suggest making sure the 'U' vowel is spoken fairly short and only one sylable long and not stretched out as is common with us english language speakers (esp. British and Southern US). Otherwise it does sort of come out as 'SU-er', instead of the desired 'SUR'.

Miland (User's profile) January 1, 2012, 12:04:06 PM

If this helps, try making the "r" more definite, as Scots might, without saying it like "uh".

cFlat7 (User's profile) January 1, 2012, 4:27:17 PM

Miland:If this helps, try making the "r" more definite, as Scots might, without saying it like "uh".
Good point. It would be useful if there was a YouTube video/recording of this distinction.

robinast (User's profile) January 1, 2012, 4:49:14 PM

This (pronunciation of the Spanish word 'sur') might be helpful as well...

sudanglo (User's profile) January 1, 2012, 11:27:11 PM

The 'ur' sounds fine in the link, Robinast, but the speaker seems to be pronouncing the 's' more like Esperanto's 'c'.

I wonder if it would be helpful to suggest practising with the word 'urso' first, as with this word an English speaker might be less tempted into a dipthong.

robinast (User's profile) January 2, 2012, 11:40:00 AM

sudanglo:The 'ur' sounds fine in the link, Robinast, but the speaker seems to be pronouncing the 's' more like Esperanto's 'c'.
Yes? My ear catches a clear difference... Indeed, the 's' sounds pretty hard - but as much as I can hear, not too hard and clearly distinct from Esperanto's 'c'. True enough, I have not heard spoken Esperanto that much - mainly by Esperanta Retradio, so I can not be counted as an expert. rideto.gif

erinja (User's profile) January 2, 2012, 2:11:13 PM

Surely one must only pronounce the name of Suri Cruise, without the i and the end, and rolling the r, right? Or pronounce "ruse" backwards.

The pure u in "sur" isn't frequently found in English but some words seem to have it, regardless of accent. lose, Susie, ruse.

cFlat7 (User's profile) January 2, 2012, 3:45:42 PM

erinja:Surely one must only pronounce the name of Suri Cruise, without the i and the end, and rolling the r, right? Or pronounce "ruse" backwards.

The pure u in "sur" isn't frequently found in English but some words seem to have it, regardless of accent. lose, Susie, ruse.
Of course, "ruse" backwards would be pronounced "zur" so remember to convert the "z" to "s".

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